When sidecar outfits delivered the goods

This charming picture from days gone by shows the local postman’s mail delivery sidecar outfit at Wareham, Dorset, with Rex on guard in 1939. The following year the outfit was replaced by a van.

We visited several local museums on our recent trip, and a seemingly recurring exhibit was the sidecar as a workhorse.

At Wick, in the far north-east of Scotland, and Mevagissey in Cornwall, local characters used sidecars for their trade as milkmen, one ‘float’ being attached to a succession of Nortons for delivering milk from the rider’s own herd to the surrounding area.

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Our local ‘milky’ uses a Suzuki Carry van for deliveries – a tenuous motorcycle connection!

Before the advent of ‘White Van Man’, the commercial sidecar was a common sight on British roads, with both the RAC and AA using them, the latter usually attached to BSA side-valves while the rather more stylish blue Nortons of their rivals must have been a far more exciting proposition for their patrolmen.

Read more in February’s edition of OBM
 

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